Author Archives: Ciaran Mulholland

By Ciaran Mulholland In a few brief months in late 1968, a mass movement challenged the Unionist government at Stormont and briefly posed the possibility of a revolutionary transformation of society here. Young people, in particular, rejected not just the misrule of the Unionist Party but also the deadening conservatism of the equally sectarian Nationalist Party. They turned to the ...

By Ciaran Mulholland Our health care system is in crisis. This is most clearly illustrated by the many hundreds waiting on trolleys in Accident and Emergency Departments every weekend, and by the long waiting lists for planned surgery. Another aspect of the crisis is the poor service received by those with mental health conditions such as depression. Lacks of services ...

By Ciaran Mulholland Tory Prime Minister David Cameron has pledged to hold an “in-out” referendum on the European Union (EU) in Britain and Northern Ireland by the end of 2017. His preference is to hold the referendum in 2016 if possible, depending on the outcome of negotiations with the other 27 countries in the EU. It is clear that he ...

THE CONSULTATIVE Group on the Past, or Eames-Bradley group, has published its report on the Troubles. Lord Eames, one of the report’s authors, says it is time for a “final step out of the conflict by dealing with the legacy of the past.” The problem is that this report does anything but deal with the actual legacy of the past.